Ren's fingers flew across the keyboard. The decrypted file was more than just data—it was a system. A living archive. And it was still updating.
"They're still running tests," he muttered. "Even after Amari. Maybe because of her."
Kim crossed her arms. "So this chair, this signal room—it *remaps* people? What does that even mean?"
"It means they don't need to brainwash you in the old-fashioned sense anymore," Ren said. "They feed your brain patterns of sound—subharmonics, theta waves, things not even measurable by consumer tech—and those sounds tell your brain what to *be*."
Kevin sat silent. He hadn't told them everything from the chamber.
Not about the cassette.
Not about Sora.
---
**FLASHBACK — SORA: 2 Months Earlier**
She sat across from Kevin in the practice studio, tuning her violin. Her movements were precise. Calm. Maybe too calm.
KEVIN: "You've changed."
SORA (smiling faintly): "That's what growth looks like."
KEVIN: "No, I mean... you play the same notes, but it's like you're not behind them anymore."
SORA: "You're listening too hard."
She drew the bow slowly across the strings. A perfect D.
But Kevin felt something underneath it—like the note was... *hollowed out*.
---
**PRESENT — SCHOOL ARCHIVES, SUBLEVEL B**
Ren's laptop pinged.
"I found the metadata from the cassette Kevin brought back."
Kim leaned over. "What's on it?"
"Not just audio. It's a command string. A trigger."
Kevin swallowed. "Trigger for what?"
Ren's expression hardened.
"To erase identity fragments. Basically... whoever plays this tape? Stops being who they were."
Kim recoiled. "Why would Sora give that to you?"
Kevin shook his head. "I don't know if she *gave* it to me—or if she was programmed to deliver it."
A silence settled over them like dust.
Then: *BOOM*—the lights flickered. Somewhere above, a fire alarm blared.
Ren cursed. "Someone's trying to wipe the servers."
---
**ELSEWHERE — Observation Chamber 7**
DR. HARROW stood before a translucent wall, watching the trio via hidden camera feeds.
He spoke into his recorder.
**HARROW'S LOG:**
"Phase Four is ahead of schedule. Subject Sora successfully executed cassette delivery. Subject Kevin is destabilizing, as predicted. Kinesthetic empathy profile: elevated. Neural risk: manageable."
He turned toward a terminal where biometric patterns pulsed.
Another voice—female, automated—chimed in:
**"Awakening sequence for Candidate Echo-1 can commence."**
Harrow pressed his thumb to a scanner.
**"Proceed."**
---
**ROOFTOP — Night**
The girl who wasn't *quite* Amari stepped to the edge beside Kim.
KIM: "What do you mean, you *used* to be her?"
UNKNOWN GIRL: "I remember the piano. I remember lavender. I remember *him*."
She looked down at her hands.
UNKNOWN GIRL: "But when I try to see my mother's face... there's static."
Kim tried to process that. "What's your name?"
The girl didn't answer.
Instead, she turned—and began to hum.
One soft note. Then another. A melody Kevin had once called *the soul of Amari*.
But now it sounded... *off*.
Like something trying to be human, but not quite.
END OF CHAPTER 7